They say college is the time in your life when you make the best friends you’ll have and keep for the rest of your life. But what they don’t tell you is how difficult college friendships can be. People come to college from all over the country and during the summer, many friends go their separeate ways. One finds themselves in New Jersey, and the other in Florida. Friendships in college last because you’re constantly in a test of commitment. Summer can be that time. That time when you grow together or grow apart. But we all go through a similar cycle through our years in college.
Freshman year: Your next door neighbor becomes your best friend for one reason or another. You both rush the same sorority, you both have several classes together, or you both mutually hate your roommate. But as Freshman year ends you’re both moving home and your endless sleepovers and pizza orders at 2 am end suddenly. And life seems to just seem different at home like something is missing. But this is a good thing. This distance becomes bittersweet because at the end of the summer, you are reunited and it makes your friendship even more important and even closer.
Sophomore year: For some reason your living situaton fell through and you your plans to live with your Freshman roommate ended. Sophomore year is already looking a little rocky and a little disappointing. But she ends up in the Apartment complex next to you. So she isnt too far. And after a few months, you start realizing how awesome your three current roommates are and you suddenly formed this amazing squad of the coolest people you’ve ever met. Although your squad may drive you insane, you know they’ll always be there for you.
Junior Year: The summers get long and you’re the only one of your squad who stayed for summer school. You answer an add that you found on your graduating class’s facebook page and ended up in an old house on the grid, sharing one bathroom with two other girls. But you’re only 2 blocks from campus and a short walk to the pool, so you figured it might be worth a shot… Right? Summer session one comes to a close and you’re already drunkenly spilling your heart out to your new roommate who acts like your mom and makes sure you don’t fall asleep with your head in the toilet. The next morning she shows up with bojangles and sits on the corner of your bed while handing you a make up wipe and telling you that you look like shit. She has a squad of her own too and you’ve slowly morphed yourself into their squad too. Still calling and texting your long distance girls on a daily basis and missing them even more.
Senior Year: Graduation pictures are happening. And theres an epic double squad photo shoot of all of the people who have made your four years in college so amazing. You all start tearing up because no one knows where they are going to end up after graduation. Except for your super senior friends, who you’ve already made plans to come back and visit so you can act like graduation was all a dream and drown yourself in a fishbowl at StillLife again.
My point is, no matter the distance, no matter how much time has passed, the friendships that matter the most will find a way of sticking around. And new ones will be made every year. People have a way of leaving imprints on your life, and they are often hard to forget. Even after graduation, phone calls, snapchats, and beach trips will happen in order to keep tabs on everyone’s lives. College is an important time to find the people who will absolutely make all four years the best time of your life. Friends are our soulmates, and boys are just temporary.